The problem of producing footwear able to allow the wearer's foot to breathe has been of interest for almost thirty years.
In particular, most technological research to obtain breathable footwear focused on the production of particular sole structures.
Thus, footwear was initially invented in which the sole had holes though its thickness, creating air channels extending directly from the inside to the outside of the item of footwear.
However, this first prior art had the significant disadvantage of allowing not just air but also water to pass through, meaning that the item of footwear was practically unusable in bad weather.
To overcome this disadvantage, footwear was produced in which the holes made through the sole were intercepted by a waterproof membrane which still allowed water vapour to pass.
In contrast, alternative embodiments brought the creation of footwear with internal channelling, pumping elements and so on, and in which the air inlet was made laterally to the sole.